Preface: This chapter follows the beginning of Persona 4 fairly closely, however if you are reading this knowing P4's plot, don't expect it to remain that way in the future.
The original character Randall is being used with permission from his creator, Rhombus ( .com)
The original character Nessa is being used with permission from her creator, ride-on-the-woff-side (author of Ghost In The Mirror)
Shadow Over Trolberg
A Hilda/Persona 4 AU
By Daring D.D. Danger
This Power, Is Mine
4/11
Opening his eyes, Randall noticed something had changed about his train car. The seats and the walls, everything was blue. Outside was only fog, there was no way to tell where he was.
"Welcome to the Velvet Room" The voice of an old man came from across the car. He had terrifyingly long ears, and likewise for his nose. He was with a young women, both were also adorned in blue.
"It would seem you have an unusual destiny ahead of you." A moment of silence passed
"I'm Igor, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"And I'm Margaret, I'll be accompanying you on your journey." said the woman in blue.
"This place exists between mind and matter, separating dreams from reality. Only those who have formed a contract are welcome here, so perhaps in the near future, a fate is awaiting you."
"Your journey should be quite interesting. Until our paths cross again." Margaret waved and the train car faded to black around Randall.
Randall's train jerked to a stop, returning to it's normal colors, and the Scandinavian countryside returned to visibility. What a strange dream. It was hard to believe the trains didn't even go to this Trolberg place, how small could it really be?
Randall was still unsure about leaving the capital to live in this Trolberg for a year. He was supposed to be looking for his uncle, but even then he'd only ever seen him in pictures. He stepped off the train, bag in tow.
"You look just like the pictures my sister sent me!" a rough male voice came from the crowd around the station. A man who looked like his uncle stepped into vision, a young blonde haired girl in tow.
"It's me, your uncle Arren!" Randall smiled and walked over to him.
"You were a baby the last time I saw you, you've still got your mom's curly hair though." He ruffled through Randall's hair, causing a few blonde curls to fall in front of his glasses.
"This is my daughter, Hilda." The small girl ducked behind her father.
"Hello!" said Randall waving gently.
The drive from the train station to Trolberg was more than 45 minutes. Randall thought about his parents, off on a years trip to Japan, leaving him to stay with his uncle in the middle of nowhere. The wall around Trolberg came into view at the crest of a hill. The town did have a sort of charm to it.
"What's going on there?" Randall pointed a section of the wall, covered in scaffolding.
"The wall's getting old, and a Troll broke trough a few weeks ago. They've been getting closer to the city than usual recently." Randall looked nervously at his uncle.
"Don't worry, it didn't hurt anyone." His uncle smiled. They were now in the queue to enter the gates.
"I'm glad you're staying with us for a year. I think you'll learn to love Trolberg." He turned his head back to the road.
The wall turned into mostly small, warm colored houses and small stores. Two buildings stood out, a belltower, and a modern department store. Randall's uncle drove in the direction of the store, which quickly began to show the color scheme of a Junes.
"Trolberg has a Junes, that's suprising." Randall said.
"Only opened this year, the locals think it's ruining the small businesses though. However it added Trolberg's second gas station, and theirs is cheaper." Uncle Arren pulled into the gas station. Hilda pulled on his pant leg, pointing at the bathroom.
"Watch the car, okay?" He asked of Randall. He nodded and his uncle and cousin disappeared.
"What can I do for you?" A gas pump attendant had shown up behind Randall. He had grey hair, but appeared young otherwise.
"Regular." Randall could only guess what his uncle wanted.
"You in high school?" the attendant asked.
"Yeah, I'm new to town."
"Well we're hiring if you want a little money."
"Nah." Randall said.
"Well why don't you get comfortable and think about it?" The attendant reached out for a handshake. Randall shook his hand and nodded.
"Ready to go?" His uncle had returned. Randall began walking and got a sudden splitting headache.
"Are you okay? Hilda asked.
"Yeah I think I'm just tired." Randall weakly answered.
The ride to Randall's new home was short, down the main road, past the library a bit, to a small reddish house. His uncle had selected some TV dinners for them to eat.
"Sorry, I'm not much of a cook." He informed.
"I hope you can feel at home with us for the next year." His phone rang.
"It's work." He got out of his seat to answer.
"Detective Elison." he paused. "I'm on my way" he hung up.
"Sorry, I have to work." He gathered his coat and left the house.
"Daddy!" Hilda yelled.
"Hey it's raining! Did you bring the laundry in?"
"Yes Daddy!"
"Alright, don't wait up for me okay!" He yelled back before closing the door.
"He's a police detective right?" Randall asked his cousin.
"Yeah it's always like this." She said. She turned on the TV. The machine crackled to life in the middle of the familiar Junes commercial, and Hilda sang back the end of the jingle.
"Everyday is great at your Junes." Randall looked at her. She smiled back.
After eating his dinner, Randall headed to his room to unpack. His uncle has left him a futon to sleep on, and a small TV to watch. He opened a box with his old school uniform. Trolberg didn't even have a uniform, and only one school building. He sat down on his futon and closed his eyes.
"Do you wish to learn the truth?" He opened his eyes to a foggy room with a shadowy figure.
"Then do your best to catch it." Everything went black.
4/12
It was a rainy Tuesday morning as Randall walked to school. As he approached the gate a girl with blue hair blew past him on a bike, crashing into a bush near the gate. He was afraid to get involved and let her be.
"Take your seats on the double!" The teacher who'd introduced himself as Mr. Cory yelled at the class.
"This is our new transfer student, Randall. Now kid, we do things differently here than the big city, so you better keep your head down!" He was bound to continue, but Randall's life was saved by a tall boy with brown-orange hair.
"Sir, can he sit next to me?" He asked.
"Sure, sit next to David. Just watch for bugs." Randall wasn't sure what he meant. He took a seat next to David.
"He's all bark, don't worry!" Said David. Randall looked out the window, noting a dense fog rolling over the city.
The school day was a drag, Mr. Cory was indeed all bark, but he could do a lot of barking. The bell was a welcome sound, but it was short lived, as it was followed by an announcement.
"Attention all students, there has been an incident near campus, please stay in your classrooms."
The classroom filled with whispers. Randall was prepared to walk home on his own, when David flagged him down.
"Just in case something bad happened, do you want to walk home with us, he gestured at a tall, dark haired girl. This is Frida."
"Nice to meet you." She said.
"Hey David!" The blue haired girl ran up to him.
"Thanks for letting me borrow your rock collection!" She handed the box over and continued walking.
"What did you do Hilda?" He asked and she stopped.
"I fell off my bike and lost a few." She said quietly.
The four began walking home, and Randall explained why he was in Trolberg, they barely noticed all the police cars on the roads.
4/13
Randall once again ran across Hilda in the morning, stuck in a bush near the gate. He chose to help her this time.
"Thanks! How about I treat you to some food after school?" Randall was unsure.
"You're new here, of course you don't have any plans! You know I was new here only a few years ago and-" David suddenly appeared.
"I think you owe me food too Hilda." It seemed Randall was hanging out with these two after school.
After school the three met up at the Junes food court. David and Hilda were arguing over something, but Randall found himself watching the news on one of the food court TV's.
"The body found yesterday has been determined to be the leader of the local sparrow scout troop-"
"That's creepy isn't it?" David said.
"I've never heard of anything like that happening in Trolberg." Hilda said.
"It's not even a big city, the murderer could be one of our neighbors." She added.
"Please… don't say that." Said David nervously.
"Okay well, have you guys heard about the Midnight Channel?" Hilda asked.
"Midnight Channel?" Randall inquired.
"Isn't that the thing where you look at a TV at midnight while it's raining and you see stuff?" David asked.
"Not just stuff, they say whoever you see is your soulmate! It's supposed to rain tonight, let's check it out!" Hilda was adamant.
"Sounds like another wild rumor Hilda. She's always like this Randall, don't buy it." David seemed much less impressed over the rumor. David suddenly looked up past Hilda.
"Hey Nessa!" A girl with her hair dyed red came over and David walked to meet her.
"I like Nessa. She's sweet, and an awesome guitarist." Hilda elaborated.
"What's she play?"
"Rock, she's part of a garage band. And she's not David's girlfriend by the way, although he is flipped over her." Nessa had said goodbye to David and he was returning.
"Yes!" David said, sitting down.
"Did you finally ask her out?" Hilda asked.
"Uh... No, but she agreed I can hang out with her band at their next practice!" David put his hand up to get a high five from Hilda, she returned the gesture, but was obviously a little disappointed in David.
Randall was watching the news with his cousin, her name also being Hilda was bound to get confusing at some point. They had just finished replaying part of an interview with a girl who had found that scout leader's body, apparently hanging from an old TV antenna. Uncle Arren was asleep behind them.
After everyone had gone to sleep, Randall found himself looking at the TV in his room, a little before midnight, the sound of rain and thunder outside of his window. Just as midnight struck, his TV filled with static and he was stricken with a a severe headache. A voice rang in his head.
"I am thou, and thou art I" Randall stumbled around his room.
"Ye who shalt open the door-" A figure of a girl now appeared in the static on his TV, he reached for her, barely able to see. However instead of bracing against the TV his hand went through and he bashed his head against the TV, falling to the floor.
4/14
"So you put your hand into the TV?" Hilda asked. The three were in the classroom at the end of the school day, Frida had already left.
"It sounds like you were dreaming, I'm hesitant to believe that I even saw static last night." David said.
"But what if he did David, we have to check!" David shot his friend a disappointed look.
"Fine, why don't we find him a full sized TV so he can jump right in!" David began laughing uncontrollably. To his dis-amusement however, the three were soon in the TV department of Junes, now joined by Hilda's pet Deerfox, Twig.
"I didn't seriously want to try this you know." He said.
"Can you at least use your connections to cut me a deal on a TV while we're here?" He asked.
"Connections?" Randall asked.
"My mom works here sometimes when her graphic design isn't making ends meet, but she doesn't have connections." She trailed off looking at David. Meanwhile a rerun of that interview was playing on the big TV.
"Hey you're right David, that girl does look a little like Nessa." Hilda noted. Randall hadn't gotten a good enough look at her to say for sure.
"That would explain why she hasn't been around much." David added. Randall reached out to touch the girl on the screen and found his hand breaching the barrier once again. He let out a small gasp.
"WHAT!" Hilda yelled.
"How are you doing that?" David added.
"That's so cool!" Ignoring the pair he began reaching deeper, only to be pushed from behind and fall in entirely.
The three landed hard on what appeared to be a fog filled stage.
"Where are we now?" Hilda asked.
"In the TV, I think." Answered Randall.
"How can you be calm about that? I don't even see an exit!"
"Not to interrupt but, I need to pee!" David butted in. Meanwhile Twig began sniffing and walking away from the stage. Randall gestured for his friends to follow the animal, who led them to a small room. The room was filled with destroyed Polaroid pictures, mostly of women with their heads cut out of the pictures. In the center of the room was a noose, gathering dust as it hung from the ceiling. The three were sorting through the pictures until Twig began growling. A humming sound filled the air and soon a colored sphere with a long tongue burst into the room. The four began sprinting for their lives. More of the sphere's poured into view as the continued into the fog filled world. One finally caught up and licked Hilda, knocking her out immediately.
"Randall what do we do?" Randall was frozen in place, and the pair and Deerfox were srrounded. As the creatures made their dive at them, time seemed to slow.
"I am thou..." The voice from the previous night filled Randall's perception.
"Thou art I, thou hast opened thy eyes, the time is now!" Randall was suddenly engulfed in a weak blue light, the sphere's stopped in their tracks. A single word was suddenly on his lips.
"Persona!" Randall was engulfed in blue flame, and from behind him rose a mechanical humanoid figure, bearing a harp.
"I am Orpheus, master of strings!" Orpheus shot thin strings from has harp, one by one peircing and reducing the sphere's to black goop as Randall pointed at them. David screamed at the scene. One of the spheres landed a hit on Orpheus' head, and Randall recoiled back as if he'd been hit.
"Orpheus!" Randall screamed, and a final string shot at the monster, reducing it to a puddle. Orpheus disappeared, and Randall fell to his knees.
"What did you just do?" Asked David.
"Persona. This power… is mine."
To Be Continued